BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (2/18/19) – The Arkansas State track and field teams earned runner-up finishes at the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships that wrapped up Tuesday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The A-State women totaled 92 points to finish second, the highest finish since a runner-up placing in 2015. Texas State totaled 128 to win the conference title while Troy was third with 81 points. The A-State men totaled 119.5 points to finish second behind conference champion UT Arlington who totaled 130 points. Texas State was third with 119 points while Louisiana scored 82 points.

"I thought the women's team performed about as well as we could have," said A-State head coach Jim Patchell. "We were not 100 percent healthy and there were a few areas where we could have made up a few points, but overall we competed well. For the men, there were a lot of areas where we didn't score what we are capable of. It wasn't for a lack of effort, just some mental errors that we will need to correct for outdoors. Our goal was to win both and we were in position going into the championship where that was possible. There were events where we performed well and others where we need improvement. The Sun Belt is a very competitive conference and both Texas State and UT Arlington have very good teams."

A day after sizzling the track in the 60-meter dash, senior Caitland Smith and freshman Osereme Erewele improved their times once again. Smith won the 60-meter dash in 7.31 seconds, the third-fastest time in program history, while Erewele placed third in 7.57 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in program history. Smith placed second in the 200-meter dash at 23.82 seconds, second-fastest in program history, and Erewele was sixth at 24.81 seconds.

Junior Emma Nwofor improved her personal-best as well winning the 60-meter hurdles in the second-fastest time in program history of 8.36 seconds. Nwofor also competed in the pentathlon Tuesday setting the school record with 3,852 points scored over the five events to place second. Briana Hardiman nearly set a personal-best in the 400-meter dash as she placed fifth for four points in 56.28 seconds. Anaelle Charles added four points with a fifth place finish in the mile run at 4:57.18 and added two more points with a seventh place run of 2:14.38 in the 800-meter.

The Red Wolves men gained 10 points in the heptathlon by way of Hayden Hampton placing second and Coleton Clifft finishing seventh. Hampton earned his second place finish with a point total of 5,194 points, the third-highest in program history, and set a Sun Belt heptathlon record with a time of 8.28 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles race. Clifft totaled 4,930 points to finish seventh.

Jermie Walker made a late push, nearly taking the top spot on the podium, but ultimately finished second in the 400-meter dash with the seventh-fastest time in program history at 47.78 seconds. He posted the third-fastest time in program history in the 200-meter dash at 21.48 seconds to place third. Chris Hill placed seventh in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.02 seconds. Seth Waters (4:19.33) and Heinrich Herbst (4:19.44) combined to give A-State five points in the mile run by way of their fifth and eighth place finishes, respectively. Herbst (1:54.88 – 2nd), Waters (1:55.77 – 4th) and Jacob Oury (1:57.40 – 6th) combined to give A-State 16 points in the 800-meter run. Amari James (8.22) and Hampton (8.59) added nine points for A-State in the 60-meter hurdles by way of third and sixth place finishes, respectively.

A-State earned 15.5 points from the men’s high jump. Frank Massey placed second at 2.07m (6-9.50) while Tiaan Steenkamp was third with the same clearance. Alex Strong placed seventh at 1.99m (6-6.25). The Red Wolves earned 13 points from the shot put. Eron Carter had the seventh-best throw in program history at 17.05m (55-11.25) to place second while Eric Williams was fourth with a throw of 16.26m (53-4.25). Carter Shell added a point for A-State in the triple jump with an eighth place leap of 14.46m (47-5.25).

In women’s field events, Evangelynn Harris was the top finisher on the second day of competition. Harris placed second in the shot put with a mark of 14.49m (47-6.50). Sarah Michael finished fifth clearing 3.63m (11-10.75) while Nada Buntic had the same best to place seventh. Imani Udoumana placed sixth in the triple jump at 12.09m (39-8), the ninth-best jump in program history, while Johnaya Givens was seventh at 11.78m (38-7.75).

Entries for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships will be finalized later this week. The outdoor season for A-State begins Friday, March 22 at the Mississippi State Relays. A-State will host the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships May 10-12 at the A-State Track & Field Complex.

For the latest on the A-State track and field, log onto the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/AStateTrackAndField or follow the team on Twitter or Instagram at @AStateTrack.